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and I can't believe the hyperbole in this thread. Since when is the E Class such a drab and crappy car? It's perfectly acceptable for the MB customer (one who prefers isolation/luxury over a sporty drive).

There has to be a reason why Mercedes sells SO MANY of these every month.

It looks like they may have botched the facelift, but I'm sure it's still a fine car. Like the Lexus GS. Iffy on the outside. Good on the inside.

I never been a Benz guy but I have had respect for their teutonic, classic, unmistakingly Benz styling. Now they seem very lost. Sad really. Remove the star from the grill and noone would know it's a Benz.

Does that white one have HALOGEN headlights??? I dont see a projector, nor do I see LED bulbs...

Halogen is just the beginning. The facelift E now has REFLECTOR halogens. On a friggin' $50+K car. Yes, the 1980's technology is back in fashion.... apparently. Yes, while $14K Econo cars have finally moved into projector halogen headlights, M-B has put their E-CLASS back in time with REFLECTORS!

At night, when I see a facelift C-Class with those hideous same reflectors, I seriously think I'm looking at an '80's car with LED DRL's aftermarketedly added under them. The "shine" they provide is just terrible.

Mercedes is worst than BMW with options. For some reason, they dont make too many E350 with HID and leather, when you do find one the lot, it package up to the upper $60k range. I dont know about you guys, but if I pay close to $60K for a car, I expect it to have HID and leather.

Don't mess with the success of Hyundai's Genesis. For mid $30K, you get one hell of a great value. Drives more like a Lexus LS460 for almost half the price.

This group has too much bashing going on.

Nope, they are fantastic now. I referred that pic in an earlier thread as Hyundai trolling MBZ and then MBZ responding by designing their car like Hyundai's in anticipation of Hyundai copying them.... :headexplodes:

Nope, they are fantastic now. I referred that pic in an earlier thread as Hyundai trolling MBZ and then MBZ responding by designing their car like Hyundai's in anticipation of Hyundai copying them.... :headexplodes:

They do this total "about face" on the E facelift, clearly admitting huge fault with their design. It resonates with me because I initially HATED the W212 design, criticizing it for being too fussy, "mismanaged", un-Mercedes, etc. Considering I was looking for a new car back then, when it first came out, and loved my W211 E, I wanted to/started to really "get it", and fell for it, therefore going through 2 of them.

NOW, they change it up, totally making those like me feel dumb for trusting the designers instincts, foresight, and judgement in "knowing what they are doing" in the first place. Worst part is, they change the part of the W212 that people who did love it, loved the MOST about it, and the part about it that attracted the most attention from it, which was the front, and then after that, the original fender crease. It's like they're trying their best to alienate their enthusiasts and make people think "why trust what they do now, when they'll just do a full 180 after a short time, admitting fault". Job well done.

Frankly, they should have corrected the parts of the car that people didn't like, which was the REAR, and interior materials, etc.. Leave the front alone, why ruin it with this disjointed, nonsensical, goofy new mug which is a clear regression in terms of holistically flowing/matching/fitting with the rest of the design? I would have rather seen a complete, hardcore rear rework and the front left mostly alone, keeping the distinctive 4 eyes, with just upgrading the dated internals of them.

I feel M-B has lost the plot in terms of exuding a sophisticated way of updating cars, as they're getting closer to how Asian manufacturers update cars: Drastic changes seemingly driven by the marketing team, not building icons due to not following a careful, confident evolutionary theme (you know, the one that made Mercedes, Mercedes to begin with), etc. If M-B would have done what a facelift is SUPPOSED to be, which is NOT a "short sighted 180" but a careful *refinement and further honing* of the original design idiom, they might have never given me a chance to jump to BMW (thankfully they did, I should send them a gift basket for doing so ). Why start a new and create a new leg of design flaws, mid cycle, that need to be corrected, when you could have perfected the original design idiom? Makes no sense, and reeks of "non premium aura" to me.

Halogen is just the beginning. The facelift E now has REFLECTOR halogens. On a friggin' $50+K car. Yes, the 1980's technology is back in fashion.... apparently. Yes, while $14K Econo cars have finally moved into projector halogen headlights, M-B has put their E-CLASS back in time with REFLECTORS!

Are you sure? Because, wow, if that is the case. To go backward away from superior projector style headlights is a travesty. I would hope that on HID equipped cars they keep the projector. That of course won't matter around here since there are so few HID equipped E's. MB has always been so stingy with HID lights, which really cheapens the look.

My friend got an ML right after they did the remodel, and HID lights were actually a delayed option. I mean, why?

Not sure how many of you have seen the facelift in person, but I saw two at the dealer earlier today; one white sport and one black luxury. Good news(!): They don't look nearly as bad in person as in photos; the luxury model with the traditional grill is actually not bad (the sport model with the star grill, egh), the rear on both look good too. Aside from the egh sport grill, the only thing I don't like are the rear doors not having the ponton arches; there's a significant difference in looks not having the arches in person than in photos. Otherwise, the new grill is more '3D' similar to what BMW's done with the 3 Series and even though it's forwarding look, there's something retro about it too(!), reminding me of the large grills on the 70's/80's W126 S-Class'. In all, seems that MOST ALL of the new Mercedes models are NOT remotely photogenic, but look good in person; case in point: the new SL; ugly as can be in photos, but sexy in person!